Lok Sabha passes Manipur Budget; state to get Rs 500 cr corpus as contingency fund

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday (March 11) said all financial support will be provided to Manipur for economic development as she stressed the overall law and order situation has improved in the northeastern state, except for some sporadic incidents.

The Minister was replying to the discussion on Supplementary Demands for Grant (SDG) Second Batch 2024-25, Demands for Excess Grants for 2021-22, Manipur Budget 2025-26, and SDG (Manipur) 2024-25 in the Lok Sabha.

Sitharaman on Monday (March 10) tabled the Manipur budget for 2025-26, envisaging an expenditure of ₹35,103.90 crore, up from ₹32,656.81 crore in the current financial year.

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Consequent to the Proclamation issued under Article 356 of the Constitution on February 13, 2025, the powers of the Legislature of the State of Manipur are exercisable by or under the authority of Parliament.

"...with the collective effort of both the Centre and state government, there has been an improvement in overall law and order situation in the state, to a large extent, except for some sporadic (incidents)," Sitharaman said.

She informed the House that arms and ammunition looted in the state are being recovered. Sitharaman also assured that all financial support will be provided to Manipur for faster economic development.

LS nod for supplementary demands

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday (March 11) passed supplementary demands for grants, which entails ₹51,463 crore additional spending in the current fiscal and the Manipur Budget for the 2025-26 fiscal.

The lower house also passed, by voice vote, the ₹1,291 crore demands for excess grants for 2021-22 fiscal and the ₹1,861 crore supplementary demands for grants for Manipur in 2024-25.

The second batch of Supplementary demands for grants entails a gross additional spending sought by the government is over ₹6.78 lakh crore, of which ₹6.27 lakh crore would be matched by savings and receipts.

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The net additional spending by the government would be ₹51,462.86 crore in the current fiscal, as per the second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha.

The demands for grants include a technical supplementary of ₹5.54 lakh crore, which goes towards repayment of debt.

‘Lower borrowing rates for govt’

"Essentially, we are removing the high-cost debt from our shoulders by advance redemptions in those debts," Sitharaman said while replying to a debate on the supplementary demands for grants.

“Because we have done this redemption, the borrowing rates of the government have come down,” the minister added.

With regard to the Manipur Budget, Sitharaman said the total receipts are ₹35,368 crore, while total expenditure is estimated at ₹35,104 crore. The state's own tax is about ₹2,634 crore and non-tax is about ₹400 crore.

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It is a Vote on Account asking for 6 months and at this stage for an amount of ₹17,947 crore.

"Similar to the way in which we have helped J&K, we are providing all the financial assistance to support faster recovery of the economy of Manipur," Sitharaman said.

The Vote on Account provides for a ₹500 crore corpus for the creation of a contingency fund for Manipur, which is currently under the President's Rule.

(With agency inputs)